Miekil groaned, his eyes fluttering but not opening.
Maxx, on the other hand, had pried his open with a warning glare.“The ship… My hands… Get away.”
“What about your hands, Dad?”When Roxxanne started to reach for one, Maxx yanked it away.“They’re dirty, but they look fi—”
“No.We touched the ship.It made us hallucinate.We…” He blinked hard as if he were having trouble concentrating.
“Ohhhh, say no more.”Sniffling, Roxxanne nodded and gathered up one corner of her dress.“I got you.”
She began wiping off his hands with her dress, careful not to touch him with her scales.He couldn’t do much but let her, and some of the haze cleared as she did, his gaze fixing on me and lingering on my tears.
A sad smile tilted his perfect lips.“Please don’t cry, Nera.”
“Then don’t keep making me,” I choked out.
His expression turned tortured, and he sank his eyes shut.
Several water drones drifted toward us and put out the fires, filling the air with even more smoke.
Pete, being Pete, ripped off his shirt and smeared his butter-free skin with the ashes.Then he held up his phone and started filming himself doing kissy faces.
“What happened?”I asked Roxxanne, since she seemed to know more than any of us.
“Um, well…” She moved over to Miekil to clean him up as well.“There is no polite way to say this, but my dad and the Killian must’ve been nearby when a wild buxxen peed on an elixxir poppy.”
Maxx bolted upright, seemingly cured if not for his slight sway, with leaves tangled in his purple hair.“Of course.The cloaked ship.”
Roxxanne nodded, not noticing how Miekil stared at her as she wiped his huge hands clean.“The cloaked ship.”
I was so confused that my thoughts had lapped themselves.“So a wild buxxen brought a bunch of these poppies to the ship, climbed on top of it, and peed all over it?Does this happen a lot here, or have I been riding the perpetually confused train for a while now.”
“The actual peeing happens a lot,” Roxxanne explained, righting her dress again after cleaning Miekil.“There’s something in their urine that when mixed with elixxir poppies, the poppies turn invisible and give off this mind-altering chemical that’s really powerful if you touch it.It takes about a minute or so for it to start working.”She rolled her eyes up at the smoky sky.“That’s why I wear gloves, Dad.In case I touch an invisible poppy in the field that’s been peed on.”
Incredulous, I turned to Maxx and Miekil.“So you touched the ship and that’s what happened?You got high on pee?”
Miekil groaned.“I’m sure if we knew it was covered in peed-on poppies, we wouldn’t have gone anywhere near it.”
It took a long moment for me to process all of this, and even then, I wasn’t so sure I followed.Buxxen pee plus poppies equaled invisibility.How had anyone discovered that?Likely the same way someone discovered popcorn—by throwing random foods into the microwave to see what exploded into even better food.
“Did you know Earth Space Fleet was using Xenoxx plants and animals to create something like a cloaked spaceship?”I asked Maxx.
“No.”Maxx’s jaw pulsed with tension.“Years ago, when my father first met with the humans, they were very interested in studying our planet.We let them but only to a certain extent.Our natural resources here are unique.We depend on them to live.They’re valuable.And our planet’s core is made up of so much iron and nickel that its estimated worth is seven hundred fifty trillion credits.According to the humans themselves, that is.”
Pete whistled low.“I could buy at least two luxury cruise spaceships with that.Your planet is a literal wet dream for…anyone, really.”
“Including Earth Space Fleet,” I said tightly.“Especially if a wild buxxen pees on some of your poppies.”
No one spoke for several moments.No one needed to since it was clear as day we were all thinking the same thing.That humans couldn’t use and abuse this planet like they still did Earth if the Xenoxx were in the way.
“Pete,” Miekil breathed.“I was hallucinating so much about gummy worms inching toward me down intersecting hallways that I couldn’t remember your name.”
Okay, never mind.We weren’t all thinking the same thing.
Pete shrugged as he ran his hand through his bleached hair.“Bleach leader works too.Or bleach god.I knew who you were talking about.”
“And you knew that they needed our help.We found them because of you.”Roxxanne curtsied low, all grace and power in a single movement.“Thank you, Pete, from the bottom of my hearts.”
“Yes, thank you, Pete,” I echoed, sticking out my hand for him to shake.
